99% sure it's the booster. Thoughts?

[The_Josh_Bear]

Probably a good call, pavement and low dust. Makes for a fast adjustment. Supposedly these auto-adjust, but they have to be in good shape AND you have to stab the brakes going into reverse. The way I park, I never stab the brakes in reverse. I always back into my spots or pull-through where possible. So I have to actually think about stomping on the brakes going backwards every few drives. Seems to work when I remember it.

 

[Cubey]

Probably a good call, pavement and low dust. Makes for a fast adjustment. Supposedly these auto-adjust, but they have to be in good shape AND you have to stab the brakes going into reverse. The way I park, I never stab the brakes in reverse. I always back into my spots or pull-through where possible. So I have to actually think about stomping on the brakes going backwards every few drives. Seems to work when I remember it.

Setting the parking brake may also help. but currently the parking brake goes to the floor too if pressed. i guess that should have been a clue.

 

[IDIBRONCO]

i do hate messing with drum brakes though, so I'm dreading it.

It's kind of a PITA, but it's really not that difficult once you do it. At least we don't have vehicles with drum brakes on all four corners anymore.

I always back into my spots or pull-through where possible.

Same here. The pull through part is just another bonus of parking out in the back of the parking lots.

 

[KansasIDI]

It's kind of a PITA, but it's really not that difficult

On these. The engineers were at least awake when they designed them for the trucks. I assume the vans are similar.

TCM forklifts by far have the stupidest drum brakes ever… one wheel cylinder per brake shoe… and the way they’re designed, they can’t be backed off. Everything has tension on it all the time. You can’t loosen the shoes until they’re taken off, only tighten them. Not very serviceable…

Oh and the way they’re auto tighten is with equalizer cables connected to both sides… why.

Sorry, just here to say, these aren’t so bad.

On a Dodge you don’t even have to pull axle shafts to remove the discs or drums… they’re mounted outboard of the hubs.

 

[Cubey]

The axle is Dana 60. Dodge used them too, and me maybe Chevy? And the brakes are Bendix.

So, none of that was designed by Ford. All Dana 60/70 (dually) require the axle shafts to be removed, in order to remove the drums.

The 78 Dodge 1 ton van I had with Dana 60 was just like it is on Ford, the shafts come out to remove the drums.

 

[tradergem]

That's why I like my 10.25" Sterling axels on my F250.

 

[The_Josh_Bear]

Setting the parking brake may also help. but currently the parking brake goes to the floor too if pressed. i guess that should have been a clue.

Winner winner chicken dinner!!!
Yep that's a dead giveaway right there. I drove around for years without a parking brake and poor braking just being ignorant of how to tighten them up.
I have to say, my only experience is with the Sterling 10.25 axles so I can't comment on the Dana 60 stuff. But if they are made similarly, you can tighten AND loosen them without taking off the drum or wheel. Which is really nice, you can just tighten them till they are tight and back off like 5 "clicks" and get really close. Tightening takes 1 screwdriver, loosening takes 2. Or 1 and another poking device.

 

[Cubey]

But if they are made similarly, you can tighten AND loosen them without taking off the drum or wheel. Which is really nice, you can just tighten them till they are tight and back off like 5 "clicks" and get really close. Tightening takes 1 screwdriver, loosening takes 2. Or 1 and another poking device.

Yes, there is a slot for adjustment. I did it on the RV and it seemed good. I have a brake spoon, but it's a bit wide. I never have good luck with brake spoons really, except to tighten. I'll probably just try to adjust a couple clicks and then spin and listen for scraping of the shoe on the drum. Might be hard to judge with the wheel on, but I'll try anyway.

On my 64 bug, you adjust through a hole in the drum. And it has two adjustments. You rotate the drum to different spots for the two star wheels. No self-adjusting at all. Very primitive.

 

[KansasIDI]

The axle is Dana 60. Dodge used them too, and me maybe Chevy? And the brakes are Bendix.

So, none of that was designed by Ford. All Dana 60/70 (dually) require the axle shafts to be removed, in order to remove the drums.

The 78 Dodge 1 ton van I had with Dana 60 was just like it is on Ford, the shafts come out to remove the drums.

Yeah, no you’re right. Dana made the axles… except for the Sterling, obviously.

The second gen era, is where the brakes come off so easily.

And the newer Dodges, but after 02 they switched to AAM axles…

Dodge and Ford both got some say with how their axles were made… the heavy 3/4 tons and one ton second gens have what is effectively a Dana 80 housing and carrier with Dana 70 hubs and hybrid shafts. They’re weird.

And of course, the differences between a Dodge Dana 60 front and a Ford one… the Ford requires the hubs to be removed, the Dodge does not. The Dodges have a segmented passenger side front axle (it’s stupid) until 2001.5

Dana 60 and 70 rears are like you said.

Dana 80s in a Ford application (F-Superduty, 99-04 F450 and F550) also require the axle shaft to be removed to replace the discs.

 

[Cubey]

I ended up just adjusting the rears out here in the desert with the old plywood under the 12 ton bottle jack and racheting 3 ton stand, used on one side at a time. I might be leaving here sooner than early March, so I'm trying to get stuff done. A little something every day.

Both sides had a ton of slack. It took forever to get it to begin to scrape the shoes on the drum. I started on the passenger side. I have it just scraping on about 1/2 of a rotation. I have to just listen, because of the axle shaft being inserted. It has a lot of resistance in it from the differential and driveshaft going to be output of the transmission, even in neutral.

The driver side has some issue with the self adjustor. The locking lever isn't holding it. I accidentally turned it backwards at first because it was so willing to turn that way so easily. It got to the point it wouldn't turn anymore because it was retracted fully. Had no brake resistance or shoe scraping noise. So then it really took a long time to get it turned back out for the shoes to just scrape.

My ol' K-D 295 USA made brake spoon worked very well this time for some reason. So that's what I used.

Now the pedal feels like it's going less far to the floor, engine off and engine on.. and the parking brake is actually doing something. Engine off in neutral, I can grab the front tire and start rocking the van forward and backwards between the big rocks blocking the wheels. With parking brake set, there's no movement.

I haven't driven it yet to see how it feels, but presumably it should be much better.

Hopefully there's still some material left on the brake shoes, enough to get me back to Arkansas. Once there, I can see about pulling the drums and replacing shoes, if needed. At the very least, I'll see about fixing/replacing the self adjustors.

 

[Cubey]

Oh heck, it's a night and day difference now after adjusting the rears. Pressing the brake hard actually feels like you're pressing it hard. And it doesn't take a lot of pedal travel compared to before. It'll take some getting used to.

It jerks to a stop if you're inching it and then hit the brakes hard. Before, it would go another inch or two before stopping and didn't feel like it was very urgent, even with the pedal to the floor.

I only went to the dump station and back (15mph limit) but yeah if you try putting the pedal to the floor now when going slow, you'd just about go through the windshield without the seatbelt on, because it stops so well.

Parking brake holds it still when idling in drive, too. Didn't try accelerating with it on. The dash brake light bulb needs to be replaced, I guess. It never lights up.

Maybe that's all it needed, but then again the old leaking MC and rotting booster was a time bomb, so they did need replacement too.